


Gold & Silver

by alexanderavery998



Series: Femslash February 2021 [6]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Chiyohdelia, Chiyohdelia (Chiyoh/Bedelia), F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February 2021, Femslash February in March, Moodboard & a Tiny Fic, Moodboard Included, POV Chiyoh, Prompt Fill, Season 3, a hint of Will/Hannibal, but it can also be read as canon compliant, gratuitous symbolism, in my mind this diverges from canon sometime after s03e07 Digestivo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:07:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29981247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexanderavery998/pseuds/alexanderavery998
Summary: If Chiyoh rests between iron and silver (and really, if Hannibal had asked her, she is closer to silver), then Bedelia is gold.
Relationships: Chiyoh/Bedelia Du Maurier
Series: Femslash February 2021 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138367
Kudos: 6
Collections: Femslash February





	Gold & Silver

**Author's Note:**

> _I cross-post here (AO3), Wattpad, and FFN as_ @alexanderavery998. _If you find my fics anywhere else, please let me know, because that means they have been reposted without my permission._
> 
>  **Prompts:** Gold, Silver
> 
> February may be over, but I’m still posting femslash! As soon as I saw the prompts gold and silver, I knew I wanted to write a little Chiyohdelia fic. I have fallen into this ship headfirst, and my girlfriend’s enthusiasm for it has made me like it even more, so shoutout to her :) Hope you all enjoy!

**_SILVER._** **_Argentum. Ag._** _Lustrous, soft, malleable. Once thought to be the only substance, in the form of a silver bullet, capable of stopping werewolves, witches, and other monsters in their tracks._

“Between iron and silver,” that’s what Hannibal said she is. And far be it from Chiyoh to define herself on Hannibal’s terms _now_ , _still_ , after so many years frozen in time in his family’s castle, after years of taking care of him, protecting him, hunting him — but. But. She thinks about it afterward, when the beast gets on his knees for Will and is handcuffed and taken into a cop car, and in a way, she thinks he’s right.

What Hannibal means is that she is a source of stability. He means that he could trust her to be the eternal steward of his ancestral home. He means that she is a reliable presence in his life, available whenever he needs her, a perpetual shadow protecting his interests and serving as his guardian angel.

That’s not what Chiyoh means. When Chiyoh thinks of herself as silver, she means: _malleable. Durable. Conductive._ She means: _I can be whatever I need myself to be._ She means: _I’m the substance that keeps monsters at bay._

Chiyoh is tired of being defined on Hannibal’s terms, but this one she keeps. _Silver._ It’s appropriate.

Shining. Deadly. Sleek.

**_GOLD. Aurum. Au._ ** _Bright, soft, malleable. Associated with wealth, the wisdom of age, and eternity._

If Chiyoh is silver, then Bedelia is gold. Just as shiny, soft, and malleable. Resistant to corrosion. At once a symbol of greatness and greed. And hard to pin down, ever elusive, just as likely to be fool’s gold than the real deal.

It’s fitting, Chiyoh thinks. Bedelia is full of endless contradictions: brassy and cold, careful and reckless, withdrawn and bold, observer and participant. She is adaptable, alluring, enigmatic, quietly extravagant...and as enchanting as the glinting, sunlit shine of gold at the base of a river-soaked gold pan.

Bedelia is beautiful, and cruel, and not an ounce reliable.

But real gold or not, who would turn down the seductive promise of a wealth like hers?

**_ELECTRUM. A naturally-occurring alloy of gold and silver._ ** _Shiny, malleable, corrosion resistant. Harder and more durable than gold; more resistant to weathering than silver._

When Chiyoh first finds her, she is like a shimmering gem in the midst of the dark mostly abandoned room. Hannibal is gone, but Bedelia is there, alive and whole, resilient and undigested. A bird waiting patiently in its gold cage, hidden sharpness under its feathers.

The second time she finds her, it is after Hannibal’s surrender. Bedelia’s chosen cage is now a steel and glass box, not unlike a safe or treasure chest, but with the added illusion of freedom.

Chiyoh finds her a third time, and a fourth, and a fifth. She doesn’t mean to keep returning to her, but she does, again and again. Because Bedelia is Chiyoh’s mirror and counterpart. Both are adaptable, malleable, attracted to and repulsed by darkness in equal measure, caught in a neverending tug-of-war. They are gold and silver, a naturally occurring pair, better together than apart.

 _Stronger_ together than apart.

 _More likely to survive Hannibal_ together than apart.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Chiyoh thinks she will always be hungry for _more:_ more freedom, more agency, more of this life with Bedelia who is all at once scalding and too cold.

But for now, gold and silver, silver and gold — it’s enough.


End file.
